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Tag Archives | drug policy

A few months ago, I was on a road trip with some friends in upstate New York when we were stopped and searched by state troopers who deployed a drug-sniffing dog. They pulled us all out of the car and tore through our rented minivan, discovering a small plastic baggy with about a gram of weed in it. When they turned up the bag, my homies and I—all young, brown men—instinctively held our hands out to our sides, palms out, as a show of surrender.

The cops started laughing. One of them approached me and said, “I get it. You’re coming from the city, it’s a long drive, you brought a little weed to smoke on the way. Put your hands down. It’ll be fine.” My friends and I exchanged quizzical glances. We’re all used to getting the third degree when it came to drugs and cops.

An 87-year-old Denver man was formally charged with multiple marijuana-related felonies on Friday: possession with intent to distribute-more than 100 pounds, cultivation-more than 30 plants, and possession of marijuana-more than twelve ounces.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office says that Edward Bogunovich was growing more than 400 marijuana plants in the backyard of his west Denver home. The number of plants exceeds that which “he was allowed for medical cultivation,” according to a Denver DA’s Office press release.